Don't Forget Your Old Shipmates
by Alone Dreaming
Summary: The rest of the table sings from beginning to end but Stephen only starts as the song draws to a close. What is he thinking? Short, oneshot. No slash. Rating for safety.


_**Don't Forget Your Old Shipmates**_

**By Alone Dreaming**

**Author's note: Just a bit of silliness to be completely honest. Written in thirty minutes and posted. I swear, I shall never truly get over my love for this movie. Every time I watch it, I get a new idea. Please be kind. I didn't have this beta'd and it may be a little... off at points. It was written late, I am abominably tired and I have the strange ability to create half-sentences. I've read over it but I'm sure I missed something. Enjoy!**

**This story contains: General brooding of Stephen, slight, slight language and no slash... period.

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It's when they start singing that I know they've imbibed far too much. There are signs preceding that but it is the deciding factor. The rosy cheeks are a warning and the laughing at everything is a sign but it is the singing, especially off key, that tells me that the wine has taken permanent control. I must admit, I wish, sometimes, that I could stop it before it gets this far. Only sometimes though, for if I had the ability to stop it all the time, my life would be far too dull. 

_Safe and sound at home again! Let the waters roar, Jack!_

Such silly songs, too. We are far from home and anything but safe. England is on the far side of the world from us right now, and our captain has overstepped his orders. We are rogues on the sea, on a hopeless mission. The crew doesn't see that they are the slaves to their captain's obsessive ambition. They do not know that he was told only to follow the ship as far as Brazil.

_Safe and sound at home again! Let the waters roar, Jack!_

I know though, as I sit here and listen to them sing. I cannot join in with them. Something holds me back, perhaps my knowledge of what the captain is doing. There is also the possibility that I haven't had enough wine yet. But, I think something is starting to trouble me. There is a small thought that hovers over my mind and heart, keeping me from joy.

_Long we tossed on the rolling main!_

It is worry for Jack. This obsession that is taking him puts fear into my heart. As I sit here, sipping wine in the company of those who are, well, different for me, I look at him. He is happy but there is that gleam in his eye. It is the spark that comes through when his mind is fixated on one thing. Usually, that spark is what keeps all of us on this damned boat from suffering horrible deaths. Today, I fear that it will lead to them all.

_Now we're safe ashore, Jack!_

He's willing to give up anything for the capture of this ship. I don't understand what he means by that. Does it mean that he would give up most of the crew to take it? Or, does it mean that he will allow the _Surprise_ take enough damage that she is unrepairable? Anything is such a broad word and I cannot think of many other things that would be an even trade for such a ship. It's because I don't think as Jack thinks.

_Don't forget your old shipmates!_

I don't think he follows the same thought process as I do. When I think through what he will most likely give up if we face the _Acheron_ again, I consider the crew and the ship. I know that he agonizes over every man who is killed under his orders. I have watched him bleed emotionally over lives he could not save. To me, if he said he would give anything, he is saying that he is willing to offer them up as well. And that just doesn't make sense.

_Folly-rolly-rolly-rolly-rye-oh!_

I know I can't make him change his mind but I wish I could. This whole thing feels very off to me. I fear that something terrible is going to happen, and Jack will have to face giving up something he isn't willing to give up. Though he said he'd give up anything, I want to believe that he holds certain things in such high esteem that he would not turn them in for a ship. As I've said before, though, we don't follow the same thought process.

_We have worked the self-same gun, quarter deck division! _

_Sponger, I, and loader, you, through the whole commission!_

He and I are two of the most opposite people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Being one of the two people doesn't stop me from recognizing that we wouldn't be more opposite if we had been raised on the far sides of the world from each other. We don't think the same, we don't like the same things, we don't always share the same beliefs. I fancy that I understand him from spending so much time around him; from being his best friend. I fear that I am sorely mistaken in this instance though. I don't understand this drive to catch the ship.

_Long we tossed on the rolling main!_

I look at him again, sitting there glowing because of the alcohol and the joy of being amongst friends and I know that it doesn't matter. He is my friend, my dearest friend, my joy, and I cannot hold what I do not understand against him. Even though I am vaguely afraid of what may happen, brooding on it and allowing it to control me will get me no where. A smile forms unconsciously on my lips and softly, I join in the song, allowing my voice to increase over time.

_Now we're safe ashore, Jack!_

_Don't forget your old shipmates!_

_Folly-rolly-rolly-rolly-rye-oh!

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**The End

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****Review please, if you have a moment. **


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